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    Public Law Legal Research Blog

    Anne B. Hemenway

    Recent Posts

    CONSTITUTIONAL LAW:   The First Amendment and Personal Social Media

    Posted by Anne B. Hemenway on Wed, Jul 31, 2024 @ 14:07 PM

    Anne Hemenway—Senior Attorney

          On March 15, 2024, the United States Supreme Court decided a pair of cases from Michigan and California on the issue of whether a public official violates the First Amendment by blocking individuals from the public official's personal social media page. In the Michigan case, Lindke v. Freed, 601 U.S. 187, 144 S. Ct. 756, 218 L. Ed. 2d 121 (2024), Kevin Lindke, a private citizen argued that James R. Freed, the unelected city manager of Port Huron, Michigan, violated his free speech rights when the unelected official blocked the complaining citizen from his personal Facebook page. In the California case, O'Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier, 601 U.S. 205, 144 S. Ct. 717, 218 L. Ed. 2d 138 (2024), two elected school board members blocked from their social media pages the parents who criticized the board of trustees. In both cases, the blocked citizens were outraged that they were barred from the private internet sites.

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    Topics: Michigan, social media, First Amendment

    ELECTION LAW:  Federal District Court Judge Orders Georgia Lawmakers to Redraw Congressional Map for the 2024 Election

    Posted by Anne B. Hemenway on Fri, Dec 15, 2023 @ 15:12 PM

    ELECTION LAW:  Federal District Court Judge Orders Georgia Lawmakers to Redraw Congressional Map for the 2024 Election

     Anne B. Hemenway—Senior Attorney

          On October 26, 2023, in three cases similar to the U.S. Supreme Court decision rejecting Alabama's congressional map, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. v. Brad Raffensperger, No. 1:21-CV-05337-SCJ, Pendergrass v. Brad Raffensperger, No. 1:21-CV-05339-SCJ, and Grant v. Brad Raffensperger, No. 1:22-CV-00122-SCJ, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 192080 (N.D. Ga. Oct. 26, 2023), wrote a consolidated 516-page Opinion and Memorandum of Decision also rejecting Georgia lawmakers' congressional maps. In a state where the recent population growth has been almost entirely made up of minority residents, the state's congressional and legislative maps presented to the court did not add more majority-Black districts. Accordingly, the federal court concluded that despite the fact that Black voters have more opportunities, "the political process is not equally open to Black voters." Further, the court concluded that the current U.S. congressional maps presented to the court dilute and diminish the Black population's voting power in the Atlanta area.

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    BANKRUPTCY: Puerto Rico Debt Restructuring

    Posted by Anne B. Hemenway on Thu, Dec 1, 2016 @ 08:12 AM

    Anne Hemenway, Senior Attorney, National Legal Research Group

         On June 13, 2016, in Commonwealth of Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, 136 S. Ct. 1938 (2016), the United States Supreme Court was asked to decide whether the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico should remain a "state" for purposes of 11 U.S.C. § 903(a), the subsection of Chapter 9 of the United States Bankruptcy Code that states that "a State law prescribing a method of composition of indebtedness of such municipality may not bind any creditor that does not consent to such composition." This issue came to the Court on an injunction proceeding by bondholders suing the Puerto Rico government to enjoin the application of the Puerto Rico Corporation Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act (the "Puerto Rico Act"). Enacted by Puerto Rico in an effort to deal with its extraordinary financial crisis and, specifically, to create its own bankruptcy scheme to restructure the debt of its insolvent public utilities. The bondholder's issue was presented in federal court notwithstanding an amendment to the Code to exclude Puerto Rico from the definition of a "state." See 11 U.S.C. § 101(52).

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    Topics: bankruptcy, Anne B. Hemenway, restructuring, Puerto Rico debt, remains a state

    BANKRUPTCY: Reopening a Federal Bankruptcy Case

    Posted by Anne B. Hemenway on Mon, Dec 14, 2015 @ 11:12 AM

    The Lawletter Vol 40 No 11

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    Topics: bankruptcy, Anne B. Hemenway, bankruptcy court, Chapter 7 trustee

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